Sheet metal



Nov. 2z, 1927. 1,650,518

. VF. HUMPHRIS Y,

- VvSHEET METAL Filed Feb. 25. 1927v I 5.1 mgfz. Vl

,rentree Nev. 22, 1927.

rmx HUMBHBIS, or ranxsronn, nonsn'r, ENGLAND.

snaar .application med `irebmary 25,1927, serial No.

-This invention relates to improvements in. and connected with thefeeding of'sheetmetal throughpressesor like machines and is carried intoelfect by slitting a blank or untrimmed-'sheet of-metal adjacent two ofthe marginal edges thereof remote one from the other to form tongues, bymeans of which slits and tongues such sheet may be moved forwardly andguided accuratelyrand in a'Y strai ht path for a definite pitch-distancestep- 4y-step as it is'impelled by the feeding parts or pawls of'anysuitably formed'feeding-mechanism of the known kind embodied in anypress or like f machine and by thesef feeding artsl or pawls en aging.-in the slits it'is possible to. feed the szgtid sheet with absoluterecision any number of times into, throng and out of a presser othermachine or under the action ofany num-beror sets of punch and die-toolswhich may be' necessary for operatingon the said sheet. for the purposeof producing accurately formed articles therefrom ;"but it will 'beobvious that where multiple operations-are essential the feeding of such4sheet must be-regulated to travel a delinite pitch Adistance and themovement thereof madelin a straight -path at each. feed-stroke and thatthese conditions must pily at "all times whilst the sheet is beingthrough a press or like machine; these conditions .are of the highestimportance as failure to obtain exact location for and during theoperations in the production of articles-from the said adapted or'prepared sheet. ensures the resulting product or article beinginaccurately formed and in most `cases useless.A

.Where several accurately formed articles are 'producedeithe'r end toend or side by side o r in a row at vone and the same time, and theproduction thereof is arranged to occur stepy-step or in successiverows, and in whlch artic esv are cutout from a blankl sheet of metal soas to leave a perforated sheet of metal or residuej'of mesh-like formconsisting of strands of metal resulting from the blanking out'of'articles from such sheetlnetal in rowsj but suchstrands 'of mesh-likeform. remain integral withthe two previmusly perforated, notchedor slitlmarginal edges of such sheet any inaccuracy in the location of the slitsand tongues in the said sheetl either spoils the articles produced lfro`:he sheets or breaks the die-tools. p

'According to .this invention tongue-'formng slits are made in sheets ofmet adjacent Marat.

171,027, and in creat Britain october 28,1925.

two marginal edges thereof, one remote from `the'other, b means ofaccurately sized and spaced punc es arranged in one or more rows tocoact with thelr complementary diesand the said punches of any one roware arranged to be in true alignment one with the other and parallelwith the punches of any other row and are mounted in a press or othervmachine of the known kind so that one or more rows of accuratelyspacedslits and itiongues are produced at one and the same me. Thisinvention will now be described and illustrated with reference to theaccompanying drawmg; it is to be understood however. that the drawingsdo not illustrate adapted and prepared sheets of metal of full size,they only illustrateparts of such sheets of metal andthe illustrationsare' given mere- -ly by way of example.

Figure 1 is a face view of two `piecesof anl adapted and prepared sheetof metal, one piece being cut from one and one piece from theothermargin or side edge' of one and the same sheetof metal, showing onerow of slits and the'resulting tongues or spike-like proljections formedwhilst slitting each piece as they 4are located near each side edgeormargm of the sheet.

of tlie lines 5 5 or a-a of Figure 1, showlslitted'at regular intervals,as at e, .adjacenty ,one 'or both of its side edges to form one ormorerows of tongues e2, which tongues preferably have their ends pointedand are bent out ofthe plane of one face of the sheetto -form meansl forguidingthe sheet throu h" a machine Vwhich is toact upon it. The en s ofthe slots form contacting or abutting faces e', for engagement by thatpart of the machine, for example a toothedv wheel, which Figure 2 isasectional view, on either one ingthe tongues or spike like projections,and 1 serves to impelthe sheet through themaf chine.- Where more thanone row of contacting faces e. and tongues zare formed inthe sheet thecontacting faces e" adjacent o ne edge of the sheet are preferably inalignment with those adjacent `the opposite e ge .of the sheet-on linestransverse to the rows of contacting faces and tongues; and where morethan one row of contacting faces e and tongues e2 are formed in thesheet it is essential that all of the rows shall be parallel, one to theother, as shown by the dotted lines 5--5 and 5 5a in Figure 1. Thesedotted lines illustrate how a straight line vmustv pass in each casealong a true centre line extending lengthwise of the tongues e2, and itis essential that said lines be parallel to a dotted centre line X-Xwhich represents the longitudinal centre-line on the sheet of metal a.

It is also essential that the contacting faces e', be of suflicientwidth for engagement b a feeding part, finger, pawl, detent, toothewheel or other suitably formed member of the feedin mechanism of a pressor like machine. T e contacting faces e and the tongues e2 serve in the'place of several of the members ordinarily'employed in the known formsof sheet feeding mechanisms, Since the contacting or abutting surfacese. form, in effect, the equivalent of a toothed rack, and the tongues e2serve as guiding means and, therefore,'make it possible to feed a sheetof metal so prepared through a ess or like machine any number of times,eit

er in an intermittent or in a continuous manner and without ythe aid ofrollers, guides, or the comparatively complicated spacing andfeeding-mecha'nism ordinarily em loyed.

he contacting or abutting surfaces e' and tongues e2 when provided insheets of metal, serve in addition to the feeding thereof as spacing,guiding and locating means and as such they are employed in conjunctionwith any known form of impelling and/or retaining-fingers, detents,pawls, or other suitably formed members used or embodied in any suitablyformed feeding mechanism of a press or like machine.

' Either two or more rows of contacting faces e' and tongues e2 may beemployed and arranged preferably, but not necessarily, in staggeredrelation to theA other row local thereto in any side edge or margin of asheet of metal a.

According to this invention, a plain or blank sheet of metal a isprovided by punches and dies mounted in one press or the like with themeans hereinbefore described, so as to enable it after it has beenadapted or repared to coact any desired number of times with impellinmechanism of another ress or other mac ine, and so that inishe or partlyfinished articles may be accurately formed or cut out from any partother than the slit margins of such sheet metal a by one or morerepetition punchand-die operations performed thereon with an accurac offeed hitherto not obtained.

In ca g'this invention into e'ect it is not essential that the originalsinuous or rough edges a', which occur on untrirnmed plain or blanksheets of metal a, be cut or sheared olf so as to provide edges whicharc unnecessary to provide the sheet with straight edges or to provideuides to contact with the sheet at any perio during theimpelling orfeeding of the said-sheet through a press or other machine.

When using sheets of metal-which have been prepared in two of themargins thereofremote one from the other as )ust described according tothis invention, for example in the manufacture of steel-pens in which itis known that the last and by far the most important operation performedby mechanical means is that of slitting, for the reason that the edgesof the cutters used for this purpose are equal in delicacy to thecuttingedges of a razor, therefore any error in the feeding or in theexact location of the adapted or prepared sheet of metal wouldinevitably not only spoil one row of steel- .in each row thereof, suchpoints and the said line must be parallel to the center line X-X andeach said line on each row must be parallel to all the other linesextending through like points or faces on an other row of tongues in themargins of the said sheet of metal.

It will lbe obvious that a large variety of articles can be made fromsheets of metal which have been adapted or prepared accordin to thisinvention and most of these require 4the same accuracy in the locationand guiding of the said sheets on to the die-tools by which the saidarticles have to be produced as is required for the sheets of metal fromwhich ,the steel pens hereinabove referred to are made.

I claim:

1. A sheet of metal having 'untrimmed edges and slitted adjacent said edes to form guiding tongues bent out of the p ane of one ace of the'sheet,

formed being equally spacedap lel rows and serving as impelling the endsof the slots sov art in paralaces, the

said faces being in alignment on lines transverse to the rows.

2. A sheet of me edges and also having a plurality of aper` turesequally spaced apart and formed bent out of the plane of one. face .of

tongues 0 the sheet an d extending in the tal having untrimrneddirection o the length `02E the sheet, said apertures having sheetimpelling faces darranged in paralle lines adjacent to the edges of thesheet'.

' 3. A sheet of metal according to claim 2 wherein the ends of thetongues are pointed 15 and the points of the tongues of each row extendin the same direction and are aligned longitudinally of the sheet.

FRANK HUMPHRIS.

